Preface
You’ll find on this page some of our ideas and beliefs…. Our projects, our ways of seeing things, our priorities…
We are beginners in the breeding of dogs, as we, up to now, just have produced one litter (born on 27th June 2009), but we aren’t inexperienced for all that; my husband and me are both private veterinaries - one for farm animals and the other for small animals - which explains that we have nevertheless a good knowledge in the health, in the reproduction, etc…of dogs. Our dogs’ health (especially the one that will breed) is naturally dear to our heart; our reflexions are wide ranging in the vast subjects like genetics, selection, and the amelioration of the breed with for objective the health and the longevity of the Great Dane and not to follow some trend, from which a breed and his standard can suffer.

Why breeding Great Danes?
Now days where animal refuges are full of all kind of dogs, the question is a must! We are completely aware of the responsibility we carry, from the instant pups are born; it’s already a great responsibility to have a dog but it is even greater when we choose to have pups and later on to leave them in a new life; then one must not make any mistake on the choice of the future families…
We’ve experienced so much joy with our Danes- even more that with our previous dogs- that we’ve got a profound desire to share it with others! In the same time we have naturally the ambition to try to contribute to the improvement of the Great Danes' health; this being weakened by a selection targeting always bigger, always stronger, Danes, it seems to us it is primordial to keep in view the reasonable and not the maximum.
Finally as our last motivation for breeding: the egoist joy to surround ourselves with Great Danes… even if it is for a short time, up to the weaning; this joy will find her prolongation in the pleasure of the exchange we’ll have with the futures families of our pups, the transmission of news on which we count strongly!!

What can we or must be improved?
First of all, you’ll find in our answer our own opinion; this engages only us, even if we are deeply convinced of what we claim, there are obviously opposite opinions! At each one to analyse the situation, the facts and to judge for himself what stand he’ll take….
So we like – you have understood – the Great Dane not too “typical”, not too big, for short too excessive! The Dane is a big dog… a representative of a breed of giants; it is clear…but contrary to other breeds, the standard for the Great Dane gives a minimum size, but no limitation for the height! What is a bit like an invitation to select Great Danes bigger and bigger, with all the problems that this implies! We know this phenomena with another breed, the Irish Wolfhound, where in the past the size has slowly but surely increased, in parallel, this breed’s problems have augmented as well, to the point where the actual breeding target again a smaller dog! So why not exploit the experience of other? Why not avoid for our Great Danes finding themselves in the same breeding dead-end? There is no plausible explanation to this question of size, it is for this reason that we have taken for goal to select Great Danes not too extreme, with respect to the standard’s norms; a Great Dane for us must stay elegant, he must not be too heavy and must be clearly able to be distinguished from a Mastino Napolitano , and this not only by the size, but too by his build, the curve of his neck and a type more “dry” with a tighter skin without an excessive lip or fetlock! By limiting the excess, we limit the growth’s problems, the problems in joints and bones and we gain in health and longevity…

We don’t understand too why the actual selection doesn’t target more to diminish the ectropion’s problem (the dropping of the eye lids, which give the impression of “red eyes”*): this imperfection is often characterized as criteria of the breed, but this is false; the standard precises well, that the eye lid must follow the eye ball… We can ofte read, that to reduce this imperfection, it will be necessary to reduce the size of the lips, because, often, the important weight of the lips exercises a pull on the eye lids! Is it right? Maybe... perhaps in certain cases... But some Danes seam contreverse to this theory, like for example Bhashani de Misandre, who has big lips, but perfectly formed eye lids! *: In relation with the "red eyeys" I would like to precise, that some harlekin Danes can have a third eye lid which is not pigmented, so that we have the impression of "red eyes", which doesn't necessarily mean, that the eye lids are misformed.

Bhashani de Misandre

Other countries (like Germany for ex.) insist a lot more on the demands made to the breeders; the confirmation of Great Danes breeders status is done on the basis of a large catalogue of stringent criteria on which the dog will be given notes according to an assessment chart; if the minimum is not reach, the authorisation to breed (which at first is temporary) won’t be granted; the screening of the dysplasia of the hip is demanded as well for the confirmation, whereas in France, the X Ray of the hips is only optional for the scoring….pity.
Other countries like Germany and the U.S.A. give more importance to the research and screening of the DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy), disease to which the Great Dane is prone to, and can occasion too often the early death of the dog!

In short, we have invented nothing, but we inspire ourselves from our veterinary knowledge and the experiences of other, from outside the borders of our own country too, to try to do things the right way. We think, that in the respect of the standard there is nuances, without falling in the extreme, no matter the direction… the future will tell us, if we are on the right path….